Stylos is the blog of Jeff Riddle, a Reformed Baptist Pastor in North Garden, Virginia. The title "Stylos" is the Greek word for pillar. In 1 Timothy 3:15 Paul urges his readers to consider "how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar (stylos) and ground of the truth."

Friday, March 02, 2018

The Vision (3.2.18): Never man spake like this man

What a powerful presence and speaker Christ must have been
during his earthly ministry! He drew men like a magnet to himself. He
mesmerized men with his words.

Calvin reminds us that one can admire the doctrine of Christ
and yet not yield to Christ. These officers were impressed by Christ but we are
not told of repentance and faith in him. And yet I think this description is
meant to make us consider how believers are so often drawn to Christ by the
power of his words.

We might wonder why God in his wisdom did not choose to have
the Word be made flesh in the age when video images and sound could have been
captured. We can speculate about what it would be like to have an audio or
video recording of Christ.

But God in his wisdom chose not to send forth his son into
such an era, and his timing is perfect.

I have heard some very compelling speakers in my day. Through
the miracle of modern technology, we can listen to many of the great speeches
made in the modern era.

But this verse reminds us that no man ever spoke like Christ.
No man ever spoke with his authority. And though, in God’s perfect timing, the
Lord Jesus Christ did not come in a time when his words might be recorded on
audio or video, the Lord did see that his words be preserved for us in the Word
of God written.

In the Gospel of John, as throughout the Bible, we can hear
the voice of Christ, when he says:

"I am the
bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger: and he that believeth on me shall never thirst" (John 6:35).